LINCOLN PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

 Ruston, Louisiana

REGULAR SESSION

 Tuesday, November 6, 2007   6:00 p.m.

The Lincoln Parish School Board met in Regular Session on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Parish School Board, 410 South Farmerville Street, Ruston, Louisiana.  Members present were President Otha Anders, Mr. Michael Barmore, Ms. Lisa Best, Mr. Curtis Dowling, Ms. Mattie Harrison, Ms. Lynda Henderson, Mr. Trott Hunt, Mr. Eddie Jones, Mr. Jim Kessler, Mr. George Mack, Mr. Ted McKinney, and Mr. Joe Mitcham.

No board member was absent.

President Anders called the meeting to order.  The invocation was given by Mr. Barmore and Ms. Henderson led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.  Mr. Anders welcomed board members, staff, members of the press, and special guests to the meeting.

Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Mr. Mitcham, the Board unanimously voted to adopt the agenda as printed.

Upon a motion by Mr. McKinney, seconded by Ms. Henderson, the Board unanimously voted to approve the minutes of the Regular Sessions held on October 2, 2007, and October 17, 2007, as distributed.

Ruston High School (RHS) had another National Merit Semi-Finalist to be recognized: Aubri Teague.  Rickey Edmiston, Secondary Supervisor, indicated that she scored in the top 1% of students in the country who took the PSAT, the preliminary college entrance exam, last fall.  He presented a plaque to her along with congratulations from the Board in recognition of this outstanding achievement.

RHS senior, Clarissa Powell, was introduced by Mr. Edmiston for being named a National Achievement Scholarship semifinalist. He presented her with a plaque in recognition of her accomplishment along with his and the Board’s congratulations.

A 2007 graduate of RHS and current State FFA Vice President and student at Louisiana Tech University, Haley Hebert, thanked the Board for their continued support of the FFA programs at the four public high schools.  She shared what FFA meant to her at RHS and about her experience as a state officer.

Mr. Anders commended each of the students for their commitment to excellence and desire to excel.

Bids were opened on October 31, 2007, in order to purchase nine new 2008 or later model conventional school buses and one new 2008 or later model special education bus.  Ross Bus Sales submitted a price of $68,720 for the conventional buses and $88,539 for the special education bus.  Scott Truck Company submitted a price of $68,767.28 for the conventional buses and $86,930.12 for the special education bus.  After careful analysis and comparison of the two bids and realization that Scott’s bid on the special education bus did not meet bid specifications, Ronny Volentine, Transportation Supervisor, recommended the acceptance of the bids from Ross Bus Sales.

Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Ms. Best, the Board unanimously voted to accept the bids from Ross Bus Sales as the lowest which fully met specifications for the purchase of nine new 2009 conventional school buses and one new 2009 special education bus.

Permission to formally approve change order requests for Project D, Ruston Junior High (RJHS), and Project E, Ruston High School, were submitted by Charles Owens, Director of Auxiliary Services.  RJHS’s change order had a single item, $9,748 for a pressure regulator and backflow.  Added to the RHS project was $19,353 for additional roof replacement, $4,042 for removing and replacing paving and catch basin, and $11,795 for changes in the art room.  These brought the net increase on the RHS project to $35,190.

Upon a motion by Mr. Dowling, seconded by Mr. Hunt, the Board unanimously voted to approve the change orders for Projects D and E.

Although no major changes have been made to the health insurance plan since January 2006, it has operated in the black during the last several months.  After recent consultation with the Third Party Administrator (TPA), Benesys/Covenant, changes are being considered according to Mary Null, Director of Instruction, Personnel and Special Programs.  The administration is attempting to keep the program solvent without passing premium increases on to the employees.  The Board has picked up over $800,000 in premiums in the last two years. The TPA usually advises that in most self insured programs the employees pay at least 25%; however, the Lincoln Parish School Board is currently paying approximately 80% of the premiums.  In lieu of a premium hike at this time, recommendations were to:

·        Increase the deductible from $400 to $500; and

·        Increase the maximum out-of-pocket from $1,500 to $2,000; and

·        Change co-pays on prescriptions from $13/$27/$42 (generic/preferred/non-preferred) to $10/$30/$50; and

·        Increase costs on NSAs (Claritin, etc.) and PPIs (Nexium, etc.) from $42 to $50.

Savings of approximately $196,000 should be realized.  Even though health care costs continue to rise throughout the nation, the administration felt that these proposed changes would keep the self insurance health insurance plan viable and offer very reasonable premiums for the employees.

Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Barmore, the Board unanimously voted to accept the changes outlined for the Lincoln Parish self-funded health plan effective January 1, 2008.

Because sales tax collections have increased for the first four months of the fiscal year by 16.95%, Mr. Murphy and Superintendent Bell proposed a 19.63% increase from last year’s amounts for November salary supplement checks.  They recommended that certified employees receive $1,950 instead of $1,630 (an increase of $320) and $975 be paid to non-certified employees instead of $815 (an increase of $160).  Mr. Murphy stated that the amounts of these checks are based on actual collections, and there is no guarantee that the same amounts will be paid next year at this time.

Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to approve the disbursement of $1,950 for certified and $975 for non-certified employees in November salary supplement checks.

As the parish’s policy for promotion and retention of students based on Bulletin 1566, the Pupil Progression Plan (PPP) needs to be revised to reflect changes in the high school grading scale.  Paula Pardue, Secondary Academic Coordinator, said that RHS will use the ten point grading scale for honors and for advanced placement courses.  All high schools will use the ten point scale for dual credit courses in compliance with university grading scales.  She indicated that an entire copy of the PPP was available for review.

Upon a motion by Mr. Mitcham, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to approve the revisions to the Lincoln Parish Pupil Progression Plan.

The Board served as a Committee of the Whole and the following Personnel Committee agenda items were considered after Mary Null presented 1.-6.; Ronny Volentine presented 7.-8.; and Earlene Jackson, Child Nutrition Program Supervisor, presented 9.-11.:

1.   Retirement of the following:

      George Jackson, elementary P. E. teacher at Ruston Elementary, effective December 3, 2007.

      Carla Sutton, computer proctor at Ruston Elementary, effective May 25, 2007, because of a disability.

      Linda Evans, special education secretary, effective January 2, 2008.

2.   Resignation of special education teacher at Cypress Springs, Burgundie Smith, effective October 31, 2007.

3.   Sabbatical leave request for the 2^nd semester of 07-08, effective January 2, 2008, from Kayla McGuire, human ecology teacher at Ruston High School.

4.   Employment of the following:

      Jan Norwood as math teacher at Career Academy, effective November 12, 2007, replacing Earlo Anderson who resigned.

      Lori Lawrence as teacher at Glen View, effective November 5, 2007, because of class size reduction.

      Sandra Huddleston as special education secretary, effective October 22, 2007, replacing Linda Evans who retired.

      Tameka Zachery as elementary P. E. at Ruston Elementary, effective December 3, 2007, replacing George Jackson who retired.

5.   Rescission of a retirement request from Debra Crowe, Title I secretary, effective December 17, 2007.

6.   Point of reference/transfer of LeAnn Patterson from a paraprofessional position at Cypress Springs to an elementary teaching slot at Hillcrest, effective November 5, 2007, because of class size reduction.

7.   Effective October 15, 2007, resignation of a bus driver in the Dubach area, Richard Pilgreen.

8.   Employment of Adrian Hill, bus driver in the Dubach area, effective October 15, 2007, replacing Richard Pilgreen who resigned.

9.   Retirement of the following Grambling High School food service employees:

      Robert Currie, technician, effective August 16, 2007.

      Elaine Becks, manager/clerk, effective December 14, 2007.

10.    Resignation of Brenda Turner, school food service technician at Alma J. Brown, effective October 31, 2007.

11.    Employment of the following school food service technicians effective October 21, 2007:

      Salina Howell at Dubach High replacing Roxie Huey who resigned.

      Harriet Dunn at Ruston High replacing Nancy Calhoun who transferred.

      Seymentress Davis in a new position at Glen View.

      Mary Walker at Grambling replacing Robert Currie who retired.     

Upon a motion by Ms. Best, seconded by Mr. Dowling, the Board unanimously voted to approve the administration’s personnel recommendations.

Mr. Mack, Chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee, indicated that a joint meeting of his committee and the Finance Committee was held at 5:00 p.m., immediately prior to the Board meeting.  He shared the following as a result of the meeting:

They heard the results of studies done on the property located on East Georgia Avenue which is being considered for the site of a pre-kindergarten center. He shared their recommendation to allow the superintendent to move forward with the purchase of the property.

Upon a motion by Mr. Barmore, seconded by Ms. Harrison, the Board unanimously voted to allow the superintendent to move forward with the purchase of the property on East Georgia.

A bus parking and maintenance facility is desperately needed and space is available on the southeast corner of the RJHS property.  This would allow the small bus maintenance/storage facility located at the central office to be used for storage only.

Upon a motion by Mr. Kessler, seconded by Mr. Mack, the Board unanimously voted to approve Charles Owens’ request to name Ron Riley & Co. as the official engineer on the bus facility project and to approve the request to advertise for bids.

Mr. Mitcham, Chairman of the Finance Committee, shared the following as a result of the joint meeting:

A millage renewal is coming up on the March 2008 ballot. The best attempt will be made to educate the public and the employees of the school system because it is very important that it be renewed.

Former board member for district 4 and school board representative on the Lincoln Health Foundation (LHF), Jo Tatum, was glad to announce that the first meeting of the LHF was held on October 16, 2007.  Board members are preparing to address organizational processes and procedures prior to receiving funds.  Needs assessments will be done to determine the health and wellness needs of the residents of the parish.  They take very seriously their responsibility of using over $20 million in distributions in the next three years for improving the health care and outcomes for residents of Lincoln Parish.

Mr. Murphy indicated that sales tax collections for the month ending October 31, 2007, were up 2.8% over the same month last year and 16.95%  year-to-date.  For the month $1,321,911 was collected with another $3,435 being recovered by audits.  Year-to-date audit collections totaled $92,217.  In the 1967 and 1979 sales tax fund $600,778 was collected and $720,932 was added to the 1993 and 2000 funds.  He noted that he will be watching the sales tax collections to see if the lower month’s collections, 2.8%, is an anomaly or a trend.

Moving on to September’s financial update, Mr. Murphy noted that the general fund has an excess of revenues over expenditures of over $3 million year-to-date.  The 5 mill maintenance fund is in the hole as are the remainder of the ad valorem tax funds because those monies have not been received for the year.  The child nutrition fund is down $298,000.  All of those reimbursements have also not been received.  Sales tax funds are doing well year-to-date.

As a point of information, Mrs. Null called attention to average teacher/pupil ratio charts by grade and by school.  She gave a brief overview and noted that the average teacher/pupil ratio in the lower grades’ core classes is generally below 20:1.  Kindergarten numbers at Glen View have grown and made in necessary to have six sections.  In high school, the ratios look larger than they actually are because those numbers are an average of all teachers in the grade and are not actually the numbers that might be sitting in a classroom. Her goal is to have 20 or fewer in lower grades and 25 or fewer in higher grades.  An average of all certificated employees shows a drastic change with a much lower teacher/pupil ratio.

In a Report of the Superintendent, Mr. Bell:

1.   Reminded school board members of the Academic Awards Banquet scheduled for Monday, November 12, at 6:00 p.m. at the Ruston Civic Center.

2.   Said that the Thanksgiving holiday will be coming up in two weeks.  Nevertheless Mr. Kessler and Mr. Mitcham have a Sales & Use Tax Commission meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 20, 2007, in the board room.

Following a motion by Mr. Kessler, the meeting adjourned at 7:11 p.m.

________________________             _______________________________

Danny L. Bell, Secretary                   Otha L. Anders, President